Barack Obama faces losing beloved BlackBerry

President-Elect Barack Obama may have to give up his beloved BlackBerry over
fears it is a security risk.

Advisers are afraid the hand-held device could be compromised by hackers and will also put him at the mercy of public scrutiny rules.

During his campaign, Mr Obama made unprecedented use of the internet to organise his network of grassroots supporters, raise money and communicate with his staff.

He was seldom without his BlackBerry, often attached to his belt, which he would tap away on in his limousine or at the front of his plane.

But concerns about email security and the Presidential Records Act, which requires all his correspondence to be put on the official record, mean the first truly computer-literate president might have to log off.

According to The New York Times, Mr Obama has not changed his email address in years. On election night, he replied to a friend's congratulatory email with: "How about that?". On other occasions he would send messages like "Sox!" when the Chicago White Sox won a game. His emails were generally brief, correctly spelt and punctuated and unadorned by abbreviations such as "LOL" or smiley-faced emoticons.

Eight years ago, George W Bush sent a sad farewell email to 42 "dear friends" and relatives, telling them: "My lawyers tell me all correspondence by email is subject to open record requests.

"Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace. This saddens me. I have enjoyed conversing with each of you."

Bill Clinton never sent emails during his presidential term, though Vice-President Al Gore used a government email address and a campaign address in his 2000 battle for the White House against Mr Bush.

Mr Obama has made clear, however, that he intends to be the first president to have a lap top on his desk, currently the Resolute desk presented by Queen Victoria in 1880.

He sent fewer and fewer emails as the long campaign wore on. One possibility is that he could keep in touch by receiving emails which he could respond to by phone.